Bamako (AFP) – Five people including two Europeans and a Malian policeman died in an assault claimed by [Muslim terror] group on a Bamako nightclub Saturday, the first attack targeting Westerners in a city braced for jihadist violence since 2012.

At least one masked gunman entered the club popular with foreigners in the Malian capital around 1:00 am (0100 GMT) and sprayed the venue with automatic gunfire and threw grenades, witnesses said.

A spokesman for Al-Murabitoun, a jihadist group run by leading Algerian [terrorist] Mokhtar Belmokhtar, claimed responsibility in an audio recording carried by Mauritanian news agency Al-Akbar, which frequently publishes what it says are statements from jihadist groups.

“We claim responsibility for the latest operation in Bamako carried out by brave combatants from Al-Murabitoun to avenge our prophet against the unbelieving West which has insulted and mocked him,” the recording said.

Mali’s government described the massacre as a “terrorist” attack by “those who have no other goal than to push away the prospect of peace” — a statement seen as referring to jihadists who operate across swaths of the desert north.

Customers of La Terrasse, in the lively Hippodrome district, said the masked assailant arrived in a black four-wheel drive vehicle and headed to the upstairs restaurant and bar area to begin shooting.

As he left he lobbed two grenades at a security patrol and one went off, killing a policeman, witnesses said.